Shubman Gill, Jalaj Saxena Create Records In Deodhar Trophy 2019

It was a day of records at the Deodhar Trophy with one India youngster and a stalwart creating history. Shubman Gill, touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket, smashed his highest List A score of 143 as his team India C reached 366/3. In response, Jalaj Saxena, who has been knocking on the doors of the Indian cricket team for close to a decade, notched up figures of 7/41, the best haul by a bowler in the history of the Deodhar Trophy as India C registered a commanding 232-run victory against India A at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on Friday. 

It was a day of total dominance for the India C side as Gill, backed by Mayank Agarwal tore the India A bowling apart. India C chose to bat and Agarwal, along with Gill, took the India A attack to the cleaners. Agarwal notched up his fifty off 49 balls by smashing Yarra Prithviraj for two consecutive boundaries. Gill joined Agarwal by smashing a fifty off 75 balls and he raised the tempo by smashing Vihari for a six.

Agarwal neared his century with a six off Ravichandran Ashwin and he benefited from a dropped chance on 93 off Vihari when Ravi Bishnoi dropped him at deep midwicket. The Karnataka right-hander notched up his century with two fours off Jaydev Unadkat but the 226-run opening stand ended when Agarwal holed out to long on off Vihari. Gill notched up his century and although Priyam Garg was dismissed after smashing a four and a six, Gill continued on his merry ways. 

Gill smashed a couple of sixes after going past the milestone but he took full toll of Unadkat with two consecutive sixes. When the Punjab youngster hit Ashwin for a boundary, India C reached 300 but Suryakumar Yadav showed his finishing prowess with two fours and a six off Siddarth Kaul. After smashing three fours and a six off Unadkat, Suryakumar notched up his fifty off 24 balls and he ended the innings in style with two fours and two sixes in the final over bowled by Kaul as India C finished on a mammoth score.

Rampant Jalaj Saxena

With Gill, Agarwal and Suryakumar decimating the India A bowlers, the batsmen were a toally deflated lot and they never got going. Dhawal Kulkarni got rid of Vishnu Vinod and Ishan Porel got the wickets of Abhishek Raman and skipper Vihari. From that point on, it was the Jalaj Saxena show.

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Devdutt Padikkal and Bhargav Merai shared a fifty-plus stand but Saxena got rid of both players in quick succession. Ishan Kishan looked good with two sixes but when he was sent back by Saxena, the end came swiftly. Saxena ran through the lower order as seven wickets fell for 60 runs, with Saxena taking 7/41, his best figures in List A cricket.

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